I mistakenly assumed this book was a lot older than it actually is, because the idea that "moneyball revolutionized baseball" is so ingrained in sportsblogs, and the lessons of the book are so obvious, that I couldn't believe it was from 2003. But there you are. It's all about Nick Swisher, for heaven's sake. Basically it goes like this: In the late 70's baseball nerds (and legends) like Bill James decided that maybe there were better ways to draft and trade players than "clutch" and looks and feelings. Baseball is a highly superstitious sport, and no one in a position of power had ever been willing to concede that there might be ways to predict good players based on what they've already done. I know this sounds crazy, especially in a game like baseball, where someone can tell you the number of left-handed strike outs in Yankee Stadium on Tuesdays in even-numbered years. AND YET. When Billy Beane of the Oakland A's went ahead in 2000 and bought cheap players with amazing stats (because they were all he could afford) and promptly started winning 100+ games a season, everyone told him he was wrong, because he wasn't bunting or stealing. (Bunting and stealing, it turns out, don't statistically help you win.) Hilariously, the book also takes a couple of great shots at Joe Morgan, the worst baseball announcer on earth. (I am sad every day that fire joe morgan shut down.) Joe Morgan, for example, kept complaining that Billy Beane had written such an egocentric book about himself, even after being told repeatedly that the book wasn't written by Beane. Baseball managers in general actually bragged about not having read it or understood it. Except, I must grudgingly admit, the Red Sox, who hired a stats nerd for their GM and then won the World Series twice after an 86 year drought. The book is hilarious and readable and will make you shout repeatedly BUT WHY DO YOU DO THAT IF IT DOESN'T WORK? And these stats gave us Nate Silver! So, so, so interesting. Also, infuriating, but hey.Grade: A
Originally posted 2009
If you like sports you probably already read Deadspin.com, so you already know all about this book. I've been reading Deadspin forever -- I remember choking on my coffee when You're With Me, Leather broke -- but I didn't want to buy the book in hardcover because I am cheap.This book is hilarious. It was so damn funny I needed to call my sister and read parts of it out loud to her. Then I went out with friends and made them read it. I breezed through the whole thing in a one-day marathon. It's not sport-specific, by which I mean if you're a fan of any sport -- you own a Jersey, and you go to games, and you have more than once lost your shit over an off-season trade -- you'll enjoy it. Mostly he's commenting on the generalities of sports, but I admit to really loving the parts where he talks about the trials of going to Yankee Stadium. (I'm a Yankees fan, we are always the bad guys, I'm cool with that. I just wish we'd WIN the damn thing. The author is a Cardinals fan, as is my dad.) The glossaries, where he breaks down teams and owners and players, are seriously laugh-out-loud hilarious. Because I am a Yankees fan, I will quote the "How to pick out a Red Sox fan" part:
The only ones on earth who still consider the Red Sox "underdogs." Owns four pink Red Sox hats left by BC coeds whose names they can't remember. Still can't figure out how to handle the whole Johnny Damon thing and deeply regrets October 2004 Halloween costume. Secretly loves Fever Pitch.
Grade: A
Originally posted 2009
A day-by-day diary by Lyle, who won the Cy Young and then promptly got sidelined by Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner in favor of Goose Gossage. The book is interesting because you couldn't set up a plot like this in a movie and not have people booing in disbelief; the Yankees were behind by 14 games at the All-Star Break, Steinbrenner is certifiably nuts, and Reggie Jackson is... Well, he's Reggie. He had a candy bar named after himself.I liked Ball Four better, as pitcher memoirs go; this one is more coherent and tells more of a story, but that one has a more likeable narrator. (Yes, I know, it's just Lyle being Lyle, but the way he brags about some of the shit he did... The 70's were a different time, but reading the stories about his reaction to women reporters being allowed in the locker room for the first time really wigged me out.)Grade: C
originally posted 2006
